Irish women among the most educated in EU

New figures released to mark International Women's Day show Irish women are some of the most educated in Europe.

The figures, released by Eurostat, show 57.9% of Irish women now have a qualification beyond secondary school compared to only 44% of Irish men in the same age bracket.

Almost 80% of graduates in health and welfare were female and women made up 76.2% of those with a qualification in education and training courses.

Despite these figures, women made up only 16.9% of engineering graduates in Ireland.

57.9% of Irish women aged 30 to 34 have a third-level education. The EU average is 39.9% of women.

Although more Irish women have a third-level qualification than Irish men, they are being paid on average 14.4% less than their male counterparts.

34.9% of Irish women are employed in part-time work, compared to Irish men, of whom 62.7% are employed full-time and just 13.3% are working part-time.

In total, more than half of Irish women are in employment (55%), but this figure remains below the EU average of 58%.

Despite these achievements, Irish women are being paid on average 14.4% less than their male counterparts.

International Women's Day: infographics with gender based data for the EU from #Eurostat for #IWD2014 pic.twitter.com/XosvAKNIez

— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) March 7, 2014

The figures also reveal that Irish women are among the most fertile in Europe and give birth to an average of 2.01 children.

The average EU woman has 1.58 children and the lowest figure is found in Portugal, where women have 1.28 children.

Women's Day has been celebrated sine the early 1900s. The first International Women's Day took place in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March 1911.

It is now an official holiday in many countries and in some it has the equivalent status of Mother's Day.